Townsend never felt he could beat All Blacks as a player, but as a coach…

Head coach Gregor Townsend on the challenge of finding Scotland's first win over New Zealand and getting high-ball help from Australia. Gregor Townsend (right) suffered some chastening defeats by New Zealand On Saturday week at Murrayfield, Scotland will face the All Blacks for the 34th time, the overall picture skewed ever-so-slightly in New Zealand's favour. They've won 31 and the Scots have won zero. Draws in 1964 and 1983 – halcyon days, kind of – is as good as it has got for the underdogs since these nations first met 111 years ago. Speaking on the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast on the day he announced his squad for the Nations Championship, Gregor Townsend goes through his own story with the Kiwis, about the dog days he experienced as a player – two of them ending 62-31 and 69-20 – and how the inferiority complex his generation might have felt is not the same anymore.

"It's almost like two different lifetimes," he says. "As a player, I don't think we ever felt we could win the game. "There were moments within games over in Auckland in 1996 when we had opportunities, but they were always going to pull away from us. I've not felt that as a coach." As coach, he has gone up against the All Blacks three times, all